


A Nightmare Even the Demons are Afraid of

by melodramatic



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Abuse, Blood, Comfort, Empathy and Sympathy, Fluff, Graphic Sexual Violence, M/M, Murder AU, no major deaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 07:24:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10612059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melodramatic/pseuds/melodramatic
Summary: Tyler easily washed the blood from his hands, but Josh had a hard time blaming him for it.





	

Pain was something Tyler knew far too well.

At age six, he was kidnapped. It was weird, because he was so young he hardly knew what was going on, and he was only locked up in that dingy motel for a few weeks, but that's where it all started.

His mother called him a "rotten-to-the-bone kid," and he didn't know why. What had he done?

At age eight, he thought he was safe. But it didn't take long for a trusted family member to turn their back on poor, gullible Tyler. He was shoved to the cheap carpet with one hand on his mouth, and the other hand in his pants.

His trusted family member called him a "no-good piece of shit," and he still didn't know what he had done to deserve it. 

At age eleven or twelve (both of the years seemed to blend together), he thought he was safe again. There was a new lady in his life: she looked so nice. She promised him good things. She was going to be his new mother, and she was going to take care of him. He smiled so big. He loved this new lady.

She locked him in the cold garage during winter, and he'd go days without food. Food was only for children that had been good.

What had he done wrong? He didn't know, but it had to have been something, right? There was no way he was being hurt for no reason.

Sometimes she'd come in through the garage door while he was trying to sleep, and she'd flick all the lights on and slam things around just to wake him up. And then when he was awake, she'd punish him for being up too late.

A slap across the face, at first. Not too bad.

A whip across the back. Okay.

A hand to his throat. It hurt a lot.

A new man came into his life. He was here to save Tyler.

Tyler didn't believe him, and he was right not to.

The man crawled into Tyler's bed at night and cut him open between his thighs. The man jacked himself off to the sight of the blood streaming down his legs until the lower half of his bed was soaked with so many bodily fluids, Tyler didn't know which was his and which was the man's.

The man was supposed to be on his side.

I am on your side, He told Tyler.

One night the man was especially hungry.

He wielded a knife in his hand and he shook Tyler awake.

"I want you to watch this," The man said, "Watch what I'm about to do to you."

Tyler bit his lip and tried to keep the tears from falling as the man carved line after line into Tyler's legs, and then up to his hips.

It hurt especially bad around his hips - the skin was so sensitive there.

The man grabbed Tyler's arm and dragged the knife down it.

Tyler was bleeding everywhere - his legs, his arms, his hips, and there was a bit of blood on his chest, too even though there didn't seem to be any cuts there. There was a large smile on the man's face and Tyler felt dizzy. He felt dizzy and sick.

He needed to get out of here.

The man licked the blood with his tongue, and Tyler was definitely going to be sick. He turned his head toward the door, and tried to move his legs, but the man held him down.

"Where do you think you're going?" He asked.

Tears were streaming down Tyler's face as he shook his head. He didn't know why he was shaking his head, but he was objecting to something.

He wished he didn't have to go to school the next day.

Sitting in his desk was so painful. Raising his hand was painful. Walking was painful, talking was painful, remembering was painful.

The images of last night were burned behind his eyelids. He wanted to rip his head off and throw it into the ocean where it could take his memories.

He was only twelve but good Lord was he in pain.

"Hey, Tyler. Did you do last night's math assignment?" A boy asked as he sat next to Tyler during lunch. Tyler was alone, as usual, thinking of the different ways he could kill himself before he got home that day.

He turned his head to the side. It was the only boy that ever gave him any attention - his name was... Jesse? James? Josh? Definitely Josh.

He shook his head and continued chewing on the same slice of apple he had been chewing on since lunch started.

The boy kept looking at him, "Are you okay? You seem tired."

Tyler chuckled, but said nothing. He was afraid he'd puke if he opened his mouth.

"I see you walk to school every morning. You always get here super early," Josh said.

Tyler shrugged. 

"Why do you get here so early?" He asked, clearly not intent on leaving Tyler alone.

So Tyler sighed and put down his apple slice.

"I just like getting here early," He said.

Josh shook his head, "Not me. I like sleeping in."

Tyler did not respond, and the bell for their next class rang.

"Where's your next class?" Josh asked.

"Science."

"In the 40's hallway?"

"Yeah."

"I'll walk you there."

Again, Tyler said nothing. He appreciated the boy's company, but he couldn't but wondering what Josh wanted from him. He got into his class, and Josh waved goodbye to him. Tyler smiled politely back, but did not wave. It hurt to raise his arms.

By the end of the school year, he and Josh regularly ate lunch together. Josh usually did all of the talking, and Tyler listened along.

Sometimes Josh would stop mid-sentence, when Tyler's eyes wandered elsewhere.

"Are you listening, Ty?" He would ask, and then turn around to try and see what he was looking at. It was just a blank wall.

"What're you looking at?" He asked.

Tyler shook his head, "Nothing. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"Blood."

"Blood?"

Tyler nodded.

"Why are you thinking about blood?"

Tyler shrugged, but he knew exactly why he was thinking about blood.

"Do you... Do you like blood?" Josh asked.

Tyler shook his head, "I hate it. Makes me sick."

"Then why are you thinking about it?"

Tyler sighed and bit his lip. He felt like crying. Josh must've noticed, because he switched to the other side of the table so that he was sitting next to Tyler.

"Hey," He said, his tone low, "What's wrong?"

Tyler shook his head. There were so many things wrong, he couldn't even list them anymore. His hands began to shake and he put down his barely-touched sandwich to rest his hands in his lap.

Josh ran a hand up and down his back and thankfully, they were all the way towards the back of the campus, so no one was around to watch as Tyler broke down and sobbed. He wasn't even sure why he was crying. He had been so numb, and so used to pain for so long he didn't know how he wasn't completely immune to it all by now.

Maybe it was all too much. Maybe he just needed to start over. With a clean slate.

Yeah, a clean slate.

And he thought of suicide. The same way he had thought about it before. His heart seemed to lift a little bit. Now that there was an end in sight, the world seemed a bit brighter.

He stopped crying and looked up at Josh who had taken the boy into his arms and against his chest.

Tyler removed himself from the embrace and wiped his eyes. Josh still continued to run a hand up and down his back.

"Sorry," Tyler apologized, "I'm just being dramatic."

Josh shook his head and chuckled, "It's okay. My sister is dramatic all the time. I get it."

Tyler sniffled and stood up.

"I'm gonna go home," He said.

Josh raised an eyebrow, "Home? We still have a few hours of school left."

"Yeah, I know. I think I'm gonna ditch. I'll see you tomorrow, though," He said, even though he wasn't even planning on being alive by tomorrow.

Josh was bewildered, as if he had never even considered ditching was an option, "Well... okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

Tyler walked right off of campus (because the campus security was shit), and right home. He was going to kill himself today. Oh, it sounded so nice up in his head.

No more blood, no more gore, no more beatings for unknown reasons. Just endless darkness. Endless pitch-black.

Tyler took in a deep breath of the winter air. It stung his lungs, but that was okay.

He got him and took out the pill bottles that he knew were hidden around the house. No one else was home at the time, so he knew he'd have to make it quick. 

He opened one pill bottle and tipped it to his lips, downing the entire thing. He took a second pill bottle and downed as many as he could.

He felt dizzy, and his hands shook, but he was ready to die.

So he laid down on his bed with a smile on his face.

( :.: )

Needless to say, Tyler did not die. He was rather dissapointed by the fact. 

At age fourteen, he admitted to Josh that he had a crush on the boy. 

At age fourteen, they kissed and it was magical.

At age fourteen, he was caught kissing Josh by his mother. She sent Josh home and took a belt out to punish Tyler. 

"Kissing another boy is _wrong_ , Tyler," She screamed. 

"You're fucking disgusting!"

He was so sore. 

At age sixteen, he ran away from home. Josh was the only one who knew where he had went. There was a small anger in his heart. It was small, though, and he could calm it easily.

One night, it was pouring rain outside, and Tyler was going to need a ride home from work. Josh insisted on picking him up, but he already helped Tyler out in so many ways, he didn't want to inconvenience the boy anymore.

Fortunately, one of his co-workers that he got along with the most offered to take him home.

Tyler happily accepted and sent a " _Don't worry, I'll be fine :)_ " text to Josh.

The ride was silent for the most of the time, and it was so dark outside, it was hard for Tyler to see where they were going  

Suddenly, they stopped in the middle of a field.

This wasn't Tyler's home.

He looked over, and the man unbuckled himself, and then climbed over the middle to straddle Tyler in the passenger seat.

"I've wanted this for so long, you have no idea," The man said, holding Tyler's arms down as he lowered the seat so that it reclined back. 

"What the fuck?" Tyler said, trying to get his arms out of the man's grasp. Rain pounded all around the car as Tyler tried kicking his feet up. All they did was kick the glove compartment, though, as he was in a rather tight spot. 

The man had to be at least a hundred pounds more than Tyler - in both muscle and bone. He held Tyler's arms above his head on the headrest, and with his other hand he yanked Tyler's pants down. 

"What - Kirt, stop! Fucking stop!" Tyler cried, as the man grabbed a hold of his now exposed cock and began to stroke it.

Tyler screamed, and Kirt placed a hand over his mouth.

"Shut. Up," He growled. He opened the middle compartment of his car and took out a rope, using one hand to hold Tyler's arms and his other hand to tie them down.

Tyler moved his entire body - he kicked, he desperately moved his hands, but it was almost as if he was a ghost. Nothing he did mattered, and it was so fitting.

"Fuck, you look good like this," The man said under his breath as he continued stroking Tyler's cock to full hardness. 

"S-stop! I - please, stop!" Tyler cried, and tears began to stream down his face. He wanted to call for Josh, but he knew all that would do was anger tbe man.

Oh, he wished Josh were here.

Again, he tried moving his arms, but all it did was stain the veins against his skin. It was no use.

Kirt was sat on Tyler's thighs, so that he couldn't even kick up if he wanted to.

Suddenly Tyler felt a strong fire become ignited within his heart. He wasn't scared - he was angry. He couldn't be taken advantage of like this.

He _couldn't_ \- it just wasn't fair. He had been through this so many times when he lived with his family, and he thought he had left it behind.

Tyler screamed loudly again, and Kirt slapped him against the face. 

Not soon enough, it was over. Kirt suffocated Tyler with some sort of cloth, and then pushed him out of the car and drove off. 

For a second, Tyler thought he passed out. He wasn't sure. He just knew that there was some sort of gap between the time he was thrown from Kirt's car, and the time he was picking himself up from the ground.

Memories of everything that had just happened a little bit ago flooded Tyler's brain.

And with dirt in his face, unwanted fingerprints everywhere beneath his torso, and a newfound fire in his heart, he was going to get revenge. He was going to survive, and he was going to get revenge.

He knew right then and there that he needed to start at the source. 

So he took out his phone and called the only number he had ever memorized. 

"Tyler?" A groggy voice answered after three rings, "What're you doing up so late?"

"I need you to come pick me up," His voice was shaky, despite his best intentions to keep it steady.

"What? What happened?" There was rustling on the other end of the line where Tyler could hear Josh getting out of bed already.

"Nothing. Just pick me up, please, Josh," Tyler pleaded, shaking from the cold and the rain.

"Oh, Tyler," He heard keys jingle, "Are you at your house?"

"N-no. Um, I'm in a field. I don't know where it is, though. Somewhere outside of town, I think."

"A field? What - what happened?"

"I'll tell you when you get here. Just please hurry up. 'M freezing."

"Okay, I'll be there in a second. Try to keep yourself safe until I get there, Ty," Josh said, his tone dripping with worry and concern. 

Tyler looked around the field. It was desolate and he had to be the only person here. But that didn't stop a fear from creeping up his spine.

"Wait," He said, "Don't hang up, please. I - just stay on the phone with me."

"Okay. It's okay, don't worry, I'm on my way, alright? I'm going to find you. Don't worry."

Tyler bit his lip and breathed heavily through his nose. He really did love Josh. 

But there was so much anger in his heart at the moment, that all he could think of was getting back to the home he was raised in. 

Their phone conversation consisted mostly of Josh cursing the sky for being so dark and cursing himself for having the ability of hitting every pothole there was on the ground. 

Josh did find him. It took awhile, but soon enough his very familiar car pulled up right beside the field. He jumped out and ran up to Tyler, embracing him in a tight hug, not even caring that his warm pajamas were getting soaked from the rain.

Tyler held tightly onto Josh and let himself sob hard into the boy's arms.

Josh ran a soothing hand through Tyler's hair, and he began to cry, as well.

"Don't worry," Josh said, "It's okay now. It's over. I'm here."

There was a lot of crying that night.

( :.: )

When Tyler was eighteen, he finally had his plan figured out. He bought a mask, had sedatives saved up from his multiple trips to the pharmacy, and a silenced gun. 

He made sure Josh was asleep, and then got up, grabbed his duffle bag full of tools and headed out into his relatively new car. 

First, he headed to his old childhood home, and was happy to find that his mother and her lover (the lover that had cut him up in so many places) still lived there.

He snuck in through their bedroom window, and sedated the both of them.

He tried to ignore the rush in his veins. 

Once they were sedated and completely unconscious, Tyler shot the both of them right through the temple. His mother might not have been directly apart of what her lover had done to him, but she knew what he had done to Tyler. And she didn't stop it. Not only did she not stop it, but she would so often hit Tyler and so often he didn't deserve it. She would whip him right over his scars - she knew they were there, she knew where they were from, and she aimed for them.

So Tyler felt no remorse that neither of them were ever going to blink again. One by one, he dragged their bodies to his trunk. The neighborhood was relatively small, and everyone had their lights out by 10 at the latest, so he knew he didn't have to worry about anyone watching him. 

He drove to the other side of town where he had done plenty of research to find out where Kirt lived. 

And he did the exact same thing to him.

Dragging his body to the trunk, he closed it and wiped the blood from his hands with a cloth he had in his pocket. He got into the driver's seat and was satisfied with the amount of weight that was slowing him down in the back of his car.

He drove to a very familiar feild and took a shovel out of the back of his car.

It took awhile.

The sun was starting to come up before Tyler had finally put the three bodies in the ground where they belonged, and had washed the blood and stench of death from his car.

He got back into his car and sighed, driving right back home. The moon was still high enough in the sky where he didn't pass anybody on his way back home, and he opened the door to his home without raising too much suspicion. 

He immediately went into their bathroom and turned the faucet with hands he didn't even realize had been shaking. There were footsteps, and Tyler thought for a quick moment that he should've closed the bathroom door, but his brain was in far too many places for him to actually care.

Josh stopped still in the threshold of the bathroom, and his posture slumped. 

Tyler's eyes were wide, his hair was sticking up in every direction, and there was dirt and blood staining him in every spot Josh's eyes flicked to.

He looked into Tyler's eyes, and there wasn't a question he was going to ask that he didn't already know the answer to.

"Oh, Tyler," He sighed. Tyler bit his lip and continued washing his hands.

"What have you done?" He asked.

"I did what had to be done. You know that."

Josh nodded. He knew exactly what Tyler was referring to. He was there for every cut, every bruise, every night that Tyler spent crying or shaking, or both.

And he had a hard time harboring any sort of resentment towards Tyler. Because, at the end of it all, he understood.

It might've been sick, but he understood.

Maybe they both needed help.

But Josh _understood,_ unlike anyone else. He could place himself in Tyler's shoes, and it made sense to him.

Tyler dried his hands off and Josh placed a hand on the back of his waist. He turned around with a guilt-ridden face. 

Josh pulled him into a tight embrace and breathed deeply. Tyler paused at first, before he remembered that Josh was the only one in his life that didn't ever seem to have an alterior motive to his kindness. So Tyler hugged him back just as tightly, burying his head in the crook of Josh's neck.

They both stood there for a long while. 

Neither of them spoke, and Josh was the only one that shed a tear.

This time, Tyler was the one to hold Josh as he began to cry.

"I'm so sorry," Josh said softly.

Tyler shook his head, "You didn't do anything."

Josh took a deep breath, "I know. But I'm still sorry."

They kept standing there, and Tyler only pulled back to engage Josh in a tender kiss.

"Don't worry," He said, "It's okay now. It's over."

There was a lump in Josh's throat as he nodded. 

Tyler wiped a tear from his cheek with his thumb, "I'm here."

Josh kissed Tyler again, and somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew they would be alright. 

They would most likely have to relocate far away within a short time, just to avoid suspicion, but Josh didn't mind.

Because after it all, he understood Tyler and he loved Tyler.

And Tyler loved him back even more.

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is ClinicallyForgotten, if you'd like to chat or request or something.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story. Please leave a comment, or some feedback I'd love to know what you thought.
> 
> (I'm sorry if it was hard to swallow)
> 
> Stay alive, friends


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